


#6: Sickness

by Winchester_Writer



Series: 10 Times Tony Stark Saved Peter Parker and 2 Times He Couldn't [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 20:29:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20180263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winchester_Writer/pseuds/Winchester_Writer
Summary: Peter runs into something new on a mission, it could be deadly.





	#6: Sickness

Peter was sniffling on Friday when he came in for one of his lab days with Mr. Stark. Every five seconds, Tony was listening to Peter sniffle and attempt to hide it. The sound was a little irritating to Tony, but he knew that the kid wasn't doing it on purpose. Finally, Tony looked up from the suit he was working on and sighed at Peter.

"Pete, are you getting sick?" 

Peter looked up from his own project. 

"No, Mr. Stark, I think it's just allergies." 

Peter wiped at his nose and sniffled again. 

"Are you sure, kid? It's the middle of October." 

"I know. But I don't feel sick, just am sniffling." 

"Okay, kid. What are you working on right now?" 

"Oh, I'm working on a new prototype for web grenades. Ones that replenish themselves as needed. So far it's working, but I can't figure out a way to properly stabilize the core so that they don't," 

Tony smiled as Peter rambled on about the new web grenades.

"Gosh," Tony thought to himself, "I wish I had this. The kid's doing great and he's a genius. Maybe I would have turned out differently if I had this." 

"Mr. Stark, what do you think?" 

"Oh, um, what Underoos? Sorry, I blanked there for a moment." 

Peter asked him a couple of questions and Tony answered them, just as enthusiastic as Peter was. The day was over in a couple of hours and Peter started to head out of the lab. 

"Bye Mr. Stark, I'll see you next week!" 

"Pete, wait!" 

Peter stopped dead in his tracks and turned around, just in time to see a scarf being thrown at him. 

"You'll be dead by the time you get home. You really need some winter clothes.”

"Thanks, Mr. Stark." 

"You really do need to get a better jacket, Pete." 

"Oh um, I, um, okay Mr. Stark." 

Tony was confused as to why that was so hard for Peter to say yes to.

"Why haven't you gotten a new coat yet?" 

"Um," Peter scratched his head, "I haven't been able to afford it." 

"Oh," Tony said, "well, I'll take care of that." 

Peter was about to argue, but Tony gave him a look and then continued. 

"And no arguing about that, Underoos, or I won't let you and Dum-E hang out anymore." 

Peter's face dropped a little and he nodded. 

"Now get on home, kid. May's gonna be mad if you're late, again." 

"Okay, okay! Bye, Mr. Stark!" 

Peter grabbed his backpack and ran out the door, chuckling slightly. 

"That kid's gonna be the death of me," Tony thought. 

3 days later and Peter was still sniffling. He was out patrolling and was a little nervous. There were some new threats and they had tech that he wasn't familiar with yet. Soon enough he ran into those new threats and just like he thought, their tech was advanced. He was fighting and had almost all of them down, until he felt a sharp pain in his leg. He looked down and saw a needle sticking out, the nausea hit almost immediately and Peter felt like he was dying. He shot a web at a building and swung up, stumbling onto the rooftop, throwing off his mask, and throwing up violently. 

Peter pulled the needle out of his leg and then dropped it. He stumbled from one rooftop to another until he got home. The window was open and he practically fell onto his bed. He crawled over to the bathroom and threw up again. That's how his night went for multiple hours. He finally crawled into bed, shivering and pale. He got himself up in the morning, in enough time to get to school. He barely got himself to walk to school and sitting through classes was even worse. Mondays were lab days as well, so after school Peter had to get over to Stark Tower. As he walked the distance between school and Stark Tower, Peter could feel himself getting weaker and weaker. He really didn’t want to tell Mr. Stark about what had happened, but he was afraid that Mr. Stark would figure out that something was wrong. He trudged down the street and entered Stark Tower, leaning against the wall in the elevator. He stumbled out of the elevator and into the lab, feeling as if he was about to pass out.

Peter looked like crap. He had just walked, no more like stumbled, into the lab. Tony was in shock over what he saw, how could the kid deteriorate that fast? His spider-bite made it so that his immune system was a lot stronger, so how come he looked like actual death?

"Pete, what's wrong?" 

"N'thing. I'm fine, M'ter Stark." 

He was slurring his words, his face was pale, and he looked like he could barely hold himself up. Tony sprung into action and started walking over towards Peter. Before he could reach him though, Peter started falling forward. 

Peter passed out onto the floor and Tony rushed to his side. He scooped him up and practically ran him to the med-bay, shouting at people to move. 

"My kid's sick, help him," he yelled at the nurses. 

The nurses rushed him into a room and Tony set Peter on the bed. He was immediately looked over and hooked up to an IV. The doctor came in a little while later and ran some tests. His blood tests would come back in an hour. Meanwhile, Tony was frantic. He was pacing on the other side of the hospital bed, running his fingers through his hair. Peter wasn't this sick when he left on Friday. Tony should have been more observant, should have monitored him more closely. When the doctor came in an hour later, the billionaire was still pacing, he was going to burn a hole through the tile at this point. 

"Mr. Stark." 

“What’s wrong with Pete?”

“It seems that Mr. Parker is experiencing the side-effects from an unknown and unexpected drug entering his system. Until we find out exactly what this drug is, we can’t figure out how to cure him. I’m sorry.”

Tony was dumb-founded at the words he was hearing. He had a million questions running through his head. 

“Well, do you know how it’s going to affect him?”

“No, we don’t. We have to monitor him constantly and hopefully be able to keep him stable. Until we get ahold of that drug, we’re at a stand-still.”

“So you can’t fix him?”

“No, Sir.”

“Okay. And until you can fix him, you’ll be monitoring him constantly?”

“Of course.”

“Then I’ll find the drug.”

“Alright, Sir. I’ll leave you to it.”

The doctor walked out and Tony sat down, looking over Peter. He ended up falling asleep, waking up to a loud coughing. He stirred and then shot up, looking over at Peter. Pete was leaning over the edge of the bed, coughing violently into what looked like a trash can. When he sat up, there was a small amount of blood around his mouth. Tony was up and in action in a second flat. He jumped up and ran over to Peter’s side, helping him to sit back and then sit up. 

“Pete?”

“Hi.”

“Oh thank god. How are you feeling?”

“Not good.”

“Pete, what happened?”

“Was fighting, got shot.”

“With what?”

Peter started coughing violently again, blood coming out every time. Tony hit the panic button and nurses were running in within a couple of seconds. They were rolling him out of the room when Peter mumbled something to Tony. 

“Roof, Manhattan library” 

Tony figured that out within just a couple of seconds. He watched on in horror as the nurses rolled Peter into the ICU area. There was nothing Tony could do at this point, except find that drug. Tony walked out of the med-bay and immediately put on his Iron Man Suit. He flew out of the tower and started scouring the rooftops of Manhattan. He looked over every inch of the rooftop of the Manhattan Library and found nothing. Tony moved on to the rooftops next to the library, scanning those as well. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Tony caught sight of a needle, attached to a syringe that was partially filled. 

He immediately grabbed it and flew back to Stark Tower. Tony practically slammed the syringe and needle on the desk of the doctor. 

“Fix him.”

“I’ll get started right away, Sir. He’s back in his own hospital room. The drug seems to be moving in segments, he’s no longer coughing up blood, but we are waiting for the next symptom to hit.”

Tony simply nodded and walked out, briskly jogging over to Pete’s room. He walked in and smiled, the kid was awake, just barely. 

“Hey Underoos.”

“Hi,”

“We found what did this to you. The doc is working on a cure for it, something that’ll fix you.”

“M’ster Stark, am I dy’ng?”

“No, no, of course not, Pete. We’re going to fix everything, I promise. Now, you get your rest.”

Peter snuggled down into the blankets and was out like a light within minutes. That’s when the next symptom came on. Peter sat straight up in the bed and was screaming. At first Tony thought he was having a nightmare, but then he realized that Peter was fully awake. He was screaming and crying, trying to fight with all of his might. 

“Pete, Pete!” Tony was by his side now and then reached for his shoulders. 

As soon as Tony touched Peter’s shoulders, he realized it was a mistake. Peter threw off his hand and then started thrashing screaming at him to stop or the word “no,” over and over again. Nurses heard and they came running in. One of them grabbed some sort of shot and shoved it into his arm. Within seconds Peter was sedated and laying back against the hospital bed. 

5 hours had gone by and Pete was slowly waking up. Tony moved his chair closer to the bed so that he could watch over his kid. As Peter woke up, Tony was speaking to him.

“Hey Underoos, everything is going to be okay. I promise you that. Your dad found the drug that did this to you. The doctor is working on an antidote right now. You’re not leaving me, I promise. You’re just a little sick, that’s all.”

“Just a little?”

Tony chuckled at that, this kid was picking up on his sense of humor. 

“Just a little, Pete. You’re gonna be okay, I promise you that.”

“You keep saying that, Mr. Stark. You know when adults tell kids that everything is gonna be okay, but you know they’re lying? I can tell you’re lying, Mr. Stark.” 

“I’m not, Underoos. But I’m not that sure about the antidote right now. The doc is working on it, but I don’t know how long it’s going to take or anything like that.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Yeah, but I know you’re going to be okay, Pete.”

“Yeah, um, hey Mr. Stark.”

“Yes Pete?”

“I don’t feel so good.”

Peter started to shake and then ended up throwing up again. The cycle continued for hours and finally, Tony had to take a leave. He stood in the hallway, banging his hands against the walls in frustration and anger. 

“I can’t lose my kid!” 

“Mr. Stark,” one of the nurses interrupted him.

“Oh, uh yes?”  
“The doctor’s finished his antidote, he says he is ready to administer it if you want.”

“Yes, of course!”

Tony practically ran to the room and saw the doctor. 

“Just give it to him. I don’t care about anything else, just fix it.”

The doctor hooked up the antidote to Peter’s IV bag and soon enough it was flowing into him. The doctor told Tony that it would take about 2 hours for the medicine to fully work and that Peter wouldn’t wake up until the next morning.

Tony had many sleepless nights, but this was by far the worst one of his entire life. He sat next to Peter’s side for the entire night, watching the heart rate monitor, and going through the worst possible outcomes in his head. At exactly 7:32a.m. Peter started to stir, his head moving from side to side. Tony perked up and scooted a little closer to Peter’s bed. Peter blinked once, then twice, and then his eyes were opening slowly and he was mumbling something out. 

“D’d”

Tony thought it sounded a lot like dad, but he couldn’t tell.

“Dad,”  
Tony smiled, “I’m right here, Underoos, right here.”  
“What happened?”

“You were out on a mission and ran into some new threats that had a poison we weren’t familiar with. They hit you with it and you’ve been in and out for a couple of days.”

“Oh. Is it out of me now?”

“Yeah Pete, it is.”

All of the sudden tears welled up in Peter’s eyes and he broke down. 

“Pete, what’s wrong?”

“I thought I was gonna die, Mr. Stark.”

“I know, Pete. You asked me if you were and I said you weren’t. I promised that you’d be okay. I was right, wasn’t I?”

Peter nodded his head and then the tears fell. Tony moved next to him and gently guided Pete’s head onto his shoulder. They stayed like that for a really long time, Peter simply going through everything that had happened. When he was finally okay, Tony looked at him.

“Sit up for me please, Pete.”

“Okay, Mr. Stark,” Peter sat up against the wall.

“I need to talk to you, okay?”

Peter swallowed and then nodded.

“I know you think you’re tough and you really are. You’re brave, you’re strong, your immune system is increased because of the Spider-bite, but that doesn’t mean you’re invincible. So, if something like this ever happens again, you come to me immediately. You could have died, Pete, because you didn’t want to get help. So, for that little stunt, you’re grounded from the suit for two weeks. I know I’m not your dad, but I am one of the head avengers and that means I can make decisions like these. Two weeks, you’re benched. That seem fair?”

Peter sighed, internally he was actually grateful that Tony was grounding him from the suit. To be honest, Peter wasn’t ready to start patrolling again and a two week break would be nice.

“Yeah, I think that’s fair, Mr. Stark.”

“Good. Now again, if anything like this ever happens again, you come straight to me, understood?”

“Understood.”

“I thought I lost you, Pete.”

“Never Mr. Stark. Remember you said you’d always be there to save me?”

“Yeah, I do Underoos, and I meant it. I’ll always be there to save you. Now, get some more rest, you need it.”

“Okay. Goodnight, dad.”

“Night, Underoos.”

Two days, Peter was walking out of the med-bay and heading home. When he got back to the apartment May hugged him tightly and then sent him to his room to shower and rest. He walked in and saw a brown paper bag on his bed. A message was written on it with sharpie-

“I’ll always be there to save you, promise.-TS” 

Peter opened up the bag and inside were two long sleeve sweaters. One was an older MIT sweater and Peter realized it must have been Tony’s old college sweater. The other one was dark blue and brand new. Peter took a shower and then threw on the MIT sweater then laid down on his bed. 

“Thanks for saving me, Mr. Stark.” 

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This is my first ever fic so any feedback, comments, and kudos would be so, so appreciated.
> 
> Sorry for not uploading yesterday. I was without wifi all day so I couldn't post. A little fun fact though, I wrote this entire story while eating a very dry salad in the backseat of a car.


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